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Date Posted: 11:14:05 09/23/04 Thu
Author: Velo
Subject: Re: Fantastic, Astonishing, I knew He Had It In Him
In reply to: NSF 's message, "Re: Fantastic, Astonishing, I knew He Had It In Him" on 10:00:37 09/23/04 Thu

NSF, I don't think you're giving Ullrich enough credit here - maybe he IS doing the best that he can do, and its not up to what you consider par based only on early success/achievements. How many riders have come along who started with a bang early in their career, were considered "the next best thing", and then never quite lived up to that expectation, even though they may have had, by any standard, a very good career? (I remember for example the pressure put on riders like Abraham Olano - "the next Indurain" - and Stephane Heulot - "the next Hinault" - early in their careers, neither of whom lived up to the hype despite both having decent palmares, more so Olano of course. Or for that matter, look at poor Axel "I'm not my dad" Merckx!) In many cases that is the worst thing that can happen to an athlete, as then the rest of his/her career is spent trying to live up to the hype/expectations - and anything less is a disappointment. Yes, Ullrich has had the bad luck to overlap with the Armstrong years, and without that he may have won many more TdF's (but then again, maybe not), and yes, questions can be raised about his training discipline, or lack thereof; but on the other hand, maybe Armstrong, and other riders, are, for whatever reason, just better TdF riders, and it doesn't have anything to do with dedication, training, discipline, etc. In other words, maybe Ullrich, as talented a rider as he is, is not quite capable of achieving what some expect? Not to say that he is overrated, simply that he is not the 'superhuman' rider that has often been portrayed.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of Ullrich's, and honestly, I can't for the life of me see how his winning a race - even a relatively minor one - can somehow be cause for exasperation and disappointment!

>There are some very good riders in that race.
>
>It is so rare and special in life to be the absolute
>best at something. Most of us will never know what it
>is like. For athletes, that window is short. I'm just
>made differently I guess, because I don't admire
>someone who already has to spend so much more time
>cycling not to just do it smarter and work a little
>harder to acheive his potential. I don't admire
>people who are not prepared for the significant events
>in their profession on a regular basis. I think this
>"other things in life" statement is an excuse or a
>justification that will haunt him later in life when
>he looks back at his lost opportunities. I admire
>Armstrong, because he tries to do everything in life
>and fits so much into a day. He trained less last
>year, but smarter, and got into better form. (Insert
>canned drug joke here). If you're going to do it, do
>your best. Its that simple.

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